


The Seminar

by just_a_hungry_author



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fever, If You Squint - Freeform, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Sickfic, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, fever fic, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:09:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24322546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_a_hungry_author/pseuds/just_a_hungry_author
Summary: Peter already wasn’t feeling great when Tony asked him to go to the press event, but Tony hadinsisted. He was feeling even worse sitting at that table listening to those boring speeches, but he tried to power through. Once that obnoxious reporter came at him, he was completely over it.Or:When Peter lashes out at a snobby reporter who talks bad about Tony, the billionaire must choose between doing damage control and defending his kid.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts
Comments: 13
Kudos: 269





	The Seminar

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had this as a WIP for _soooooo_ long. I wasn’t going to post it until after quarantine but who knows when that’s going to end, so here we are. Comments and kudos are appreciated, and please enjoy!

When Pepper walked into her house at three in the afternoon after a stressful day at work, the one thing that she was not hoping to see was Tony, wearing jeans and working on a piece of machinery. 

"Woah, woah, woah." Pepper started. "What's going on here?" 

"Hey Pep," Tony greeted. "How was work?" 

"Very stressful actually." Pepper said. "What are you doing?" 

"This is a new piece of equipment for Rhodey." Tony replied. "Kind of looks like a pile of scraps right now but eventually it'll be a control center for his house. Did you say work was stressful?" 

"Yes I did, it was very stressful but luckily for me I'm going to have a nice quiet night tonight because you won't be here." 

"Are you kicking me out?"

"You seriously don't remember?" 

Tony looked up at Pepper, who was eyeing him with a raised eyebrow, and racked his brain trying to figure out what she could be talking about. 

He'd gotten so much better at listening over the past few years, though this wasn't a great example of it. 

"You have to go to the QuickTech Business Seminar tonight as a representative for Stark Industries." Pepper supplied, running a hand through her hair.

"Oh, that." Tony started. "Well, actually I've got a thing tonight-"

"No way, Tony." Pepper interrupted. "You are _not_ getting out of this one." 

"Come on, Pep." Tony pushed. "It's not like I haven't missed these press things before-"

"Not happening. This is an important seminar and we have a deal. It's your turn to go to a press event." 

The flare in her eyes told Tony that she wasn't going to budge. 

Despite this, he tried again. 

"But-"

"I'm not covering for you for something you agreed to." Pepper interrupted. "You're going to go the seminar and show your face, and I'm going to drop Morgan off at her friend's sleepover, then come home and have a hot bath. Understood?" 

Tony sighed in defeat. "Yes, Miss Potts."

Pepper kissed him on the cheek. "Glad we agree." 

She started on her way out of the room, but paused. 

"Oh," she added, "And if you try _anything_ to get out of this, I'll divorce you." 

Tony scoffed. "You wouldn't do that." 

Pepper narrowed her gaze. 

"Okay," Tony said, raising his hands up in defeat. "Maybe you would."

He stood up and started following Pepper out of the room. "But I would get Morgan in the divorce." 

"Oh yeah, I'm sure she'd choose to live with you over me." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"You set fire to the griddle trying to make pancakes." 

"Hey, that was _one_ time!" 

And that was what brought him to where he was now, wearing a suit and brushing his hair.

Tony turned when he heard a knock on his bedroom door to found Peter standing in the open doorway.

He was wearing a suit that had been tailored to him, and despite the fitting size, Tony mused that it made his apprentice look much younger than his eighteen years. 

Peter's collar was up and he was holding his bow tie in his hand. 

Tony whistled. "You clean up good, Mister Parker." 

Peter sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Could you help me with the bow tie?" He asked. "I'm not really sure how to do it." 

Tony smiled. "Sure, Kid." 

Peter stepped across the threshold and over to Tony, holding the tie out. 

Tony put the bow tie on him with ease, smirking at the notion that the kid still couldn't do it himself, but he frowned as the back of his hand brushed over Peter's neck. 

"Are you sure you're up for this?" 

"I'm fine, Mister Stark." Peter said. "Really." 

The teen had been battling with a fever for the last day and a half. 

A quick scan from FRIDAY the day before confirmed that a weak bug had managed to get through Peter's iron-wall defenses, and the fever was a result.

It wasn't too high, barely topping one hundred, and Peter had been insisting that it was nothing he couldn't handle. 

Tony reasoned that as long as he kept the teen hydrated, there really was nothing to worry about, hence him not feeling _too_ bad about asking Peter to come to the event with him. 

"Alright, but if you start feeling worse you tell me, okay?"

Peter nodded. 

"And stick by my side as much as you can, we don't want any obnoxious reporters coming at you." 

The seminar was being held at a luxury dinner-theatre.

There was going to be a dinner held during the seminar, so Tony had no qualms about Peter coming along. 

All they had to do was sit and (pretend to) listen. 

After navigating their way through the maze of paparazzi that had gathered outside, Peter and Tony made their way to their table. 

A waiter carrying a tray of champagne glasses approached the table as they sat down.

He placed a glass on the table in front of Tony but questioningly eyed Peter. 

Squirming under the man's gaze, Peter shyly looked up at him, feeling very out of place. 

"He'll be sticking to soft drinks tonight." Tony said nonchalantly. "Anything you have will do." 

The waiter turned and made his way back to the kitchens, clearly wondering why a teenager was attending such an event, with Tony Stark no less. 

Tony made light conversation with Peter as more people trickled into the room, waiting for the first speaker to step up. 

There were a _lot_ of journalists milling around, Peter had to guess there was maybe forty or fifty of them among the two hundred people attending the event, so it seemed to be a pretty big deal. 

While they had gotten a few looks because _Tony freaking Stark was in the building_ , none of the journalists really seemed focused on him. 

"Are you giving a speech tonight?" Peter asked. 

"Nope." Tony said, taking a sip from his champagne. "I'm just here to show my face and eat some absurdly expensive food." 

Peter didn't say anything to that, instead taking a sip from his own glass, which had been filled with lemonade. 

At least they wouldn't have to worry too much about being in the public eye tonight. 

As the first speaker made his way to the microphone, the waiters began circling the tables again, handing out plates of potato gnocchi and goat-cheese ravioli. 

Peter steered clear of the ravioli- goat cheese wasn't really his thing- but he gladly got started on the gnocchi, and managed to polish off Tony's too. 

Not much later they were served beef bourguignon with spinach and feta pie as a main course, and Peter was glad to have the distraction. 

Every speech was about business policies or law, and they were not interesting in the slightest, especially for someone Peter's age. 

So, Peter tried as best he could to distract himself with his meal, downing glasses of lemonade and trying not to think about how much he wanted to pull his phone out of his pocket. 

Thankfully, Tony seemed equally as bored. 

He'd been keeping Peter amused by making snarky comments about the speakers under his breath, but during one of the speeches he began talking to somebody at a nearby table. 

Peter could only assume it was an old colleague or something, but he didn't care to listen in on _that_ conversation either. 

Maybe it was his fever, or maybe just his constant hyperactivity, but he was starting to _need_ to get up from that table, if only for a few minutes.

Just sitting there was starting to wear on him, and this was not the kind of place he wanted to be caught sleeping with his head on the table. 

It was embarrassing enough when it happened in class, but here? In front of all these reporters? Forget it. 

Feeling insecure about interrupting Tony's conversation, but reasoning that now was as good a time as any because the seminar was transitioning between speakers, Peter cleared his throat. 

"Um, Mister Stark?" 

Tony turned his attention to the teen across from him. "Yeah, Pete?" 

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

Tony frowned. "Are you starting to feel sick?" 

Peter admittedly _was_ beginning to feel a little hotter than when they'd first arrived, and he was starting to get a dull throb behind his forehead, but he shook his head. 

"No, I just gotta... you know." 

"Do you want me to come with you?" 

"No, I'll be okay." Peter replied, standing up. 

He weaved his way through the tables and out into the hall, joining the short line for the men's room. 

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started thumbing through it, figuring it was fine since he was in the hall and not in the theatre. 

Besides, a quick glance into any high school in America will tell you that no teenager can sit in one place for that long without checking their phone. 

Surely these business people understood that. 

After standing there for a few seconds, scrolling to see if he had any texts from Ned or MJ, he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. 

Not in a "my Spidey-senses are tingling" way, but in a "somebody's looking at me" way.

He subtly glanced up from his phone, looking around the room. 

While there were quite a few people in the hall, nobody seemed to be looking at him. 

If there was somebody, they were pretty good at hiding it.

Shrugging it off because it wasn't a "something dangerous is about to happen" kind of feeling, Peter just stepped up as the line moved forward. 

If anything, somebody might've just been staring at him because he was so young. 

Yeah, that must've been it. 

Peter was cornered by a journalist as soon as he left the bathroom.

He'd barely made it two steps from the door when he was approached by a man holding an audio recorder. 

Peter recognized him because he'd been standing in the hallway when he first started to feel uneasy, but he didn't think he'd ever seen him before that. 

The man was maybe thirty years old, and he looked at Peter with a certain intensity about him. 

It almost looked like hunger. 

Like the reporter was a starving tiger and Peter was a piece of meat dangling in front of him. 

The journalist gave him a sickening grin. 

"Hi!" He exclaimed, a bit too eager. "You're Stark's intern, right?" 

Peter tried to ignore him and step out of the way, but the man moved in front of him. 

"I'm Gene Horfield with StarCast Magazine, would you mind answering a few questions?" 

"I don't think I'm supposed to-"

"Just a few." The reporter interrupted, shoving his recorder closer to Peter. "What's it like interning for Tony Stark?" 

"It's great." Peter said, hoping it would get the man to shut up. "Mister Stark is a great boss." 

He made a point of starting to step away again, but the man got in front of him a second time. 

"Really? Because that's not what Samantha Rivers said after she got fired." 

"I don't know who that is." Peter replied, starting to get aggravated. 

He didn't know this guy, and he wasn't even _really_ an intern for Tony. 

He didn't even know who the reporter was talking about.

"She said Tony Stark was abusive and rude." 

"Mister Stark is _not_ abusive." Peter growled. 

Who did this guy think he was? 

"Oh really? Because she's not the first to say so." 

Peter couldn't tell what had caused it. 

It could've been just typical teenage attitude, or his fever, or both, but something snapped inside of him in that moment. 

He couldn't stop what came out of his mouth next. 

"Mister Stark is _not_ abusive." Peter growled again. "But you know who is? You." 

He was getting louder now, and he was barely thinking as he continued to rant. 

"You're so desperate for a story that even at a place with all these important people, you had to corner a kid coming out of the bathroom because you're hopeless, and you need to prey on people like me because you're so intimidated and scared of talking to anyone else. You're pathetic and rude and if you were any good at being a journalist, you'd know how to interview somebody without being a jerk about it!" 

Peter's outburst had drawn a bit of a crowd, so much so that journalists from inside the theatre had begun to come outside. 

There was a murmur of confusion among everyone in the theatre as the string of journalists began suddenly rushing to the door. 

His conversation paused for the moment because of the confusion, Tony glanced at the empty chair next to him. 

A sudden clenching of his heart had him springing to his feet and pushing his way through the crowd. 

_Please don't be Peter, please don't be Peter, please don't be Peter._

His sickening fear that Peter was involved became a reality when he got to the front of the sea of people and he spotted Peter in the corner near the bathroom door, yelling at a journalist who Tony recognized as being particularly snobby. 

There was a crowd of other journalists all holding out their phones, taking pictures and recording the altercation, so Tony quickly made his way over to Peter, hoping to defuse the situation. 

"Woah, woah, woah." He said, stepping between Peter and the journalist. "What's going on here?" 

"Your intern is verbally abusing me." The reporter said accusingly. "What a great employee you've got there, Stark."

"Me?" Peter asked angrily. "All you do is look for dirt on people because you can't write a decent story without it!" 

Peter's voice had broken at the end of his sentence, and Tony turned to face him.

The kid sounded like he was about to cry. 

Getting his first good look at Peter, Tony was honestly a little shocked at how worked up he was. 

The teen's face was red and his eyes were threatening to spill over with tears. 

"He said you were abusive!" Peter argued. "I can't just stand by when people talk about you like that!"

Okay, Dad Mode officially activated.

Tony put his hands on Peter's shoulders as a couple tears made their way down the teen's cheeks. 

Deciding that the hallway was _not_ the place to try and get a handle on this situation after glancing around at the crowd, Tony lowered his voice.

"Hey," He started, "Let's go take a breather, alright?" 

Nodding, Peter wiped at his eyes with his arm. 

Tony put a hand on his arm and lead him through the crowd that had formed, journalists snapping pictures and recording video the whole time.

Tony pushed their way to the front of the crowd and over to the stairs that led up to the mezzanine.

He found a family bathroom in the upstairs hall and brought Peter inside, locking the door behind them as journalists started making their way up the stairs. 

Inside the bathroom, Peter immediately made his way over to an open window, breathing in the fresh air.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled, tears starting to fall freely. 

"Don't worry about it, Pete." Tony said, deciding that he needed to keep his distance for the moment. "Those reporters can be such assholes." 

"Yeah but I shouldn't have yelled at him like that." Peter glanced at Tony. "It's all gonna come back on you." 

"Do you know how much bad press there's been about me? A little argument isn't gonna do anything to tarnish my image. Not that I care about my image too much anyway."

Peter didn't calm down any, so Tony made his way over to him and put a hand on his back.

"If it makes it any better, I'll talk to them so they have the whole story, okay? I won't let it be one sided." 

Peter nodded and wiped at his eyes again, though it didn't do much to stop the tears from flowing. 

Tony frowned as he started to think about why Peter had gotten so riled up in the first place. 

Suddenly placing his finger- or rather, his hand- on it, he put a hand on Peter's cheek. 

"How's that fever doing?" 

Peter, eyes closed, shrugged. 

Tony moved his hand to Peter's forehead. "You feel a little warmer than you did earlier, of course that could be because of all the yelling you just did." 

They spent a few more minutes in the bathroom as Peter tried to calm down and Tony planned out what he was going to say to the press. 

One side of him was in Media Mode, trying to plan out the best possible way to address the situation that involved the least bad press. 

The other side of him was in complete Dad Mode and wanted nothing more than to defend Peter one hundred percent. 

Peter’s face was still pretty red when he and Tony finally decided to go out into the hall and face the music.

They were immediately bombarded with journalists once they exited the bathroom, and Tony moved in front of Peter protectively. 

Peter just closed his eyes and grabbed Tony's arm, trying to ignore the crowd of people that were standing much too close to him. 

Why couldn't they just leave him alone? 

He was hot, his head hurt from all the crying he'd just done, he was annoyed at all the people, and more than anything he wanted to be home in bed. 

Ignoring all the questions that were being shouted at them, Tony announced, "I will be making an official statement regarding the altercation that just took place between my intern and a member of the press on stage in a few moments." 

With that all the reporters rushed back to the stage, trying to get to the front of the crowd. 

Peter and Tony made their way up onto the stage, Peter standing nearby Tony, but not near the microphone. 

He tried his best not to fidget, but all the eyes on him were making him more uncomfortable than he already was. 

"If I could have your attention, please." Tony said, hundreds of cameras going off as he spoke. "I'm sure by now you are all aware of the altercation that just took place in the hallway, but I'd like to make a statement regarding the incident." 

He gestured to Peter. "As you may know, this is an intern of mine, Peter Parker. He's been my intern for about three years now, and he's not in the public eye very often." 

"Now, that being said, you can all see Peter is quite young. He's eighteen, and while that makes him legally an adult, he is still a teenager and can be expected to act like one on occasion." 

"Regarding the incident in question, Peter was harassed by a journalist, Mister Gene Horfield of StarCast Magazine, as he was exiting the restroom. First off, I don't see how cornering a teenager who is coming out of the bathroom and bombarding him with questions is something _anyone_ finds is okay." 

"Secondly, Peter hasn't been feeling well these past few days. He currently has a fever and therefore was easily overwhelmed by somebody asking him questions that he knows absolutely nothing about, as anyone would be." 

"And finally, I will not detest anything that Peter said. Gene Horfield is known for being rude and pushy, and to put that kind of pressure on a teenager, a _sick_ teenager, nonetheless, is absolutely unacceptable. Frankly, he does need to write more than just out-of-context gossip because it gets old very quickly, and it does come off as rather abusive and disrespectful to the people he's writing about. That is the only comment that I or my intern will be making on this matter, and it would do you all well to avoid preying on Peter in the future. He will only ever be answering questions in a controlled environment, so hollering things at him wherever he is will not do you any good. Thank you."

With that Peter and Tony walked off the stage, cameras still going off, but Peter was confused as they walked past their table. 

He tugged on Tony's sleeve. "Are we leaving?" 

"Do you _want_ to stay here?" Tony asked. 

"Well, no." Peter replied. "But won't Pepper be mad?" 

"I'm sure once she knows what's going on she'll be on our side. Now come on, this place is making me sick." 

Peter leaned back into his seat when they got in the car after _again_ being bombarded with paparazzi once he and Tony stepped outside. 

He closed his eyes as Tony pulled off into the road, wishing to just forget about the whole night. 

They'd been riding for about twenty minutes and Peter was _just_ on the verge of drifting off when he felt the car stop. 

Confused, Peter opened his eyes. 

They couldn't possibly be home yet. 

"What are we doing?" He asked, sitting up. 

"I figure we both deserve a little treat after this shitshow of a night, don't you?"

Looking to his right, Peter realized that Tony had pulled into the parking lot of an ice cream parlor. 

Turning the car off, Tony opened up his door. 

"Come on, some ice cream will help bring your fever down." 

Peter gave a small smile. "I'm not so sure that's how it works." 

"Of course it is." Tony replied. "That's why stressed backwards spells desserts."

The ice cream shop was empty except for one worker, a Hispanic kid who seemed about Peter's age. 

He was wearing a red shirt with an ice cream logo on it, and a black visor to match.

He was standing by the register, scrolling through his phone when Tony and Peter walked in. 

"Welcome to Mark's Scoop Shop," He started, his voice monotone. "What can I-"

His jaw dropped when he looked up and saw who was standing there. 

"You're Tony Stark!" 

Tony flashed a smile. "Ah, a fan of my work? I'm not surprised, almost everyone is." 

Peter elbowed him in the side. "Don't be a jerk, Mister Stark." 

"I'm kidding!" Tony defended. 

He looked back to the employee. "What's your name kid?" 

"Aaron." The teen responded. "I'm Aaron." 

Tony held out his hand. 

"Tony." 

Aaron shook Tony's hand. "What can I get for you, Sir?" 

Tony chuckled. "No need to call me sir." 

He put a finger to his chin as he scanned the menu. "I'll have a single scoop of pistachio almond with chocolate syrup and a cherry please." 

He turned to Peter. "What do you want, Kid?" 

"Can I have two scoops of cake batter with rainbow sprinkles, please?" 

"One pistachio with chocolate and a cherry, one double cake with sprinkles." Aaron repeated. "Coming right up." 

After receiving their ice cream, Tony took a selfie with Aaron and gave him a two hundred dollar tip. 

Tony and Peter climbed back into the car with their ice cream, the drive home having taken on a much lighter tone. 

Peter actually started up some light conversation while they ate, and by the time they arrived home he was back to his normal bubbly self, despite his fever. 

"I'm still sorry about how tonight turned out." He said as they pulled into the driveway. 

"Seriously Pete," Tony started. "Don't worry about it. You know I didn't want to go to that stupid seminar anyway."

He put a hand on Peter's forehead, pleased that it had come down from the spike earlier on in the night.

"How about you get set up on the couch with a movie, alright?" Tony continued. "I'll make us some hot chocolate." 

The hot chocolate put Peter right to sleep barely half an hour into Finding Nemo, (or maybe it was the medicine Tony slipped into his drink who knows), and Tony ended up carrying him to his bed. 

Peter woke up the next day and walked into the kitchen to find Pepper yelling at Tony. 

There were a multitude of newspapers and magazines all spread out across the table, as well as a few tablets and laptops with different articles pulled up. 

Every one of them had a headline about Tony and Peter at the seminar but hey, that's a story for another time.


End file.
